- Warner Bros board rejects takeover bid from Paramount, favours deal with Netflix
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Warner Bros Discovery on Wednesday rejected a hostile takeover bid by Paramount launched last week to trump plans by streaming giant Netflix to acquire the Hollywood giant and owner of CNN. In a statement, Warner Bros said the terms of the Netflix merger were better, while the Paramount offer ‘once again fails to address key concerns that we have consistently communicated … throughout our extensive engagement and review of their six previous proposals.'” (12/17/25)
- Republicans push mail-in voting for the midterms in defiance of Trump
Source: Politico
“Republicans are making mail-in voting a core part of their midterm battle plans — a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump’s efforts to abolish the practice as they scramble to turn out his base. … Rattled by electoral losses across the country this year and fearing a turnout slump in 2026 when control of Congress is on the line, Republican party chairs and operatives in battleground states Trump flipped by razor-thin margins in 2024 are turning to mail-in voting to keep lower-propensity voters engaged when he’s not on the ballot. They’re redoubling the 2024 efforts they ran successfully despite Trump alternating between promoting and railing against the practice — a turnabout after his vilification of mail ballots contributed to GOP losses in 2020. Now, back in office, Trump is escalating his war against mail ballots.” (12/17/25)
- Trump Said His Tariffs Would Reduce the Trade Deficit and Bring Back Manufacturing. Here’s What the Data Show.
Source: Reason
by Jack Nicastro“President Donald Trump has pledged that his tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs back to America and make America a net exporter again. So far, the exact opposite has happened: Manufacturing jobs have decreased, and the trade in goods deficit has increased. From January through September, the most recent month for which U.S. Census Bureau trade data are available, the U.S. imported $1 trillion more in goods than it exported. This is a $118 billion jump compared to the goods trade deficit that the U.S. ran from January to September 2024. (Likewise, the overall trade deficit, which includes services, increased by $113 billion.) Perhaps, one might argue, shooting ourselves in the foot (by Trump’s lights) is worth it if it causes our greatest geopolitical adversary — China — to amputate a limb. But that isn’t what happened either.” (12/17/25)
- The MAGA Crack-Up Is Overrated. MAGA Is Here to Stay.
Source: The New Republic
by Brynn Tannehill“There is an emerging conventional wisdom that MAGA is eating itself alive with internecine warfare between various politicians, pundits, thought leaders. People also point to the diminution of Trump as a tired, spent force as a reason for celebration. They want hope in a time when there seems like none, and this jockeying for the crown even as the king falls asleep in his chair while his minions fawn over his vitality and vigor seems to offer it. … What defines MAGA is still there, and won’t go away for the foreseeable future. If you reduce the equation to the simplest terms, you have the Trump voters who pay attention to the chaos and those who don’t. No matter how you slice it, neither group is going to suddenly start voting for Democrats, regardless of which monkey wins the poo-flinging contest.” (12/17/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/204494/maga-carlson-shapiro-owens-crackup-overrated
- So, You Want to Open a Microschool
Source: Cato Institute
by Kerry McDonald“Many aspiring microschool founders discover that their biggest challenges don’t lie in teaching children and overseeing instruction. They usually enjoy that part of running a school. What they find difficult and often frustrating are tasks such as navigating zoning laws, finding a suitable location, complying with local and state education regulations, securing startup funding, and learning the basics of owning a business. These barriers can delay or derail promising school startups before they begin. That’s why an increasing number of founders are turning to established school networks and startup accelerators — programs that assist aspiring school leaders with mentorship, funding, and know-how — for guidance and support.” (12/17/25)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/so-you-want-open-microschool
- Authoritarian government dooms society
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal“Many people have recently discovered that government is authoritarian. What a shock! Most only complain about it when it affects something they personally care about. When it crushes something they dislike, they either ignore it or call for even more authoritarianism. The dictionary says ‘authoritarian’ means demanding blind obedience to authority instead of respecting individual freedom, considering individual freedom subordinate to the power of the state, or exercising complete or almost complete control over the will of others. It’s a perfect description of ordinary, everyday government.” (12/17/25)
- The Sycophants Draw a Line
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Willliamson“Donald Trump is, from time to time, ungracious on social media. Republicans who accepted, justified, and celebrated outrage after outrage after outrage from Donald Trump for a decade — from ‘grab ’em’ to endless constant lies to gross corruption to illegal deportations to mass murder in the Caribbean to the attempted coup of 2021 and much more — have decided to draw the line at mocking the murder of the Reiners? That doesn’t mean that Republicans have rediscovered decency or their spines — it only means that Trump is starting to quack like a lame duck.” (12/17/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/rob-reiner-death-trump-republicans-sycophants/
- A $600 Billion Gift to Wall Street, Paid for by the Public
Source: Town Hall
by US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)“The Federal Reserve is one of the most powerful, secretive, and unaccountable institutions in U.S. history. Its insulation from oversight, combined with its massive coffers and strong statutory authorities, makes it a uniquely troubling institution. To give you an idea of just how powerful the Fed is, in 2018, Forbes ranked Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, as the 11th most powerful person in the world, ahead of the prime ministers of France and the United Kingdom. Earnest oversight is long overdue. Current law prohibits the Government Accountability Office from auditing the Fed’s vast monetary policy functions, and the Fed’s Inspector General serves at the pleasure of the Fed Board of Governors, the very institution it’s supposed to hold accountable. This summer, I began investigating the Fed.” (12/17/25)
- Sovereign Wealth Funds and the West
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott“When I was at school, learning about the privatization waves of the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, my teacher made a comparison between our own fortunes in Britain, and those of our North Sea neighbors in Norway, that stuck with me. In Britain, we used the proceeds from re-privatizing key industries like British Petroleum to fund the tax cuts that were considered necessary to revitalize the economy. The story is well-told: by liberalizing the economy, the initial shortfall in direct income would be offset in the short-term and exceeded in the long-term from the proceeds of an energetic private sector, and a free-market economy would provide the future prosperity, built on a broad and reliable tax base, necessary to keep Britain afloat. In Norway, on the other hand, such future prosperity was secured in a different way: through a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).” (12/17/25)
https://fee.org/articles/sovereign-wealth-funds-and-the-west/
- Repression deepens in Hong Kong with Jimmy Lai’s guilty verdict and censorship over deadly Wang Fuk Court fire
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin“The result press freedom and human rights advocates feared has arrived: 78-year-old media tycoon, Chinese Communist Party critic, and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was found guilty in Hong Kong this week. After five years in detention, much of it in solitary confinement, a West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court found him guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign forces on Monday morning. He will be sentenced at a later date. Lai, who has suffered deteriorating health amidst his detainment, may very well die in prison. It’s a page straight out of the authoritarian playbook: Censorship after a crisis to protect the interests of the state from the fallout. Unfortunately, authorities in Hong Kong are not straying away from this strategy.” (12/17/25)
- An America yearning for the sacred in civic life
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Many Americans feel buffeted by a cycle of tit-for-tat political rhetoric, whipsaw policymaking, and norms breaking. A recent poll found that 82% of voters believe the way people talk about politics contributes to violence. Only one-third say it is possible to lower the temperature on political rhetoric. Yet, in recent weeks, more voices are calling for civic civility. They are based on a mix of political principles as well as moral and religious values. On Dec. 9, for example, two governors – a Democrat and a Republican – clasped hands after modeling respectful political dialogue at the National Cathedral in Washington. Democrat Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Republican Spencer Cox of Utah both often share how their faith traditions imbue their public service. Speaking to The Washington Post, Mr. Cox noted, ‘Bridge-building is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It takes … strong faith and strong courage’.” (12/16/25)
- A Story of Liberal Deicide
Source: Law & Liberty
by Juliana Geran Pilon“Western civilization is inconceivable without the biblical proposition that all humans were created in God’s image (Tzelem Elokim [צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים] in Hebrew; imago Dei in Latin). But over time, paradoxically, the idea turned humanity against its own Maker. So argues Tomer Persico of the Shalom Hartman Institute in his ambitiously titled In God’s Image: How Western Civilization Was Shaped by a Revolutionary Idea, recently translated from the 2021 Hebrew version.” (12/17/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/a-story-of-liberal-deicide/
- Teachers’ union pushes “neopronouns” but claims name “America” is a problem
Source: New York Post
by Karol Markowicz“Do you know what a ‘neopronoun’ or a ‘xeopronoun’ is? The teachers’ unions want to make sure your little kids do. Earlier this month, the National Education Association held an ‘Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice’ event. Documents obtained by the education watchdog group Defending Education (full disclosure: I am on the group’s board) contained slides illustrating these neo- and xeopronouns. Neopronouns are ‘new’ ‘pronouns’ such as ‘xe/xem/xyr’, and other letters randomly shoved together. Xeopronouns are for ‘conceptual identities’ such as ‘cat/cats/catself’. Got it? No? But our kids are being force-fed this garbage in America’s public schools.” (12/16/25)
- The Political Orphanage, 12/17/25
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Jason Pargin on Internet Addiction and Algorithmic Horror.” (12/17/25)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/jason-pargin-on-internet-addiction-and-algorithmic-horror
- Reason Interview: Katherine Dee
Source: Reason
“Did the Internet Break Our Sense of Reality?” (12/17/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/17/did-the-internet-break-our-sense-of-reality/
- Rising, 12/17/25
Source: The Hill
“Free Heng Guan! Don’t deport exposer of China’s Uyghur concentration camps.” (12/17/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5652743-rising-december-17-2025/